Riots in England: Mending our broken society

The television series 'Shameless' supposedly illustrates the life of Britain'sunderclass but programmes such as this, like 'Porridge', often glorify the anti-hero blurring the edges between right and wrong, creating an acceptance that would not have been tolerated years ago.

The court cases in the aftermath of the riots have illustrated a downward slide in parts of society so that even comparatively wealthy people have been helping themselves to 'freebies' in the looters' paradise that followed the riots. Therefore, a distinction needs to be drawn between this sort of spur-of-the-moment opportunism on the one hand and the alleged responsibility of the 'underclass' for the riots which all political parties are now, belatedly, eager to address.

While most of us have simply tried to get on with our lives, bemoaning the litter-louts, bad manners, lack of consideration  in general - the list is endless - we just wish that someone would sort out the problems that have blighted us for so long submerging us in a malaise of grudging acceptance of that's life now. Some of those who have 'had-a-go' have suffered injury ordeath so if we can, we ignore the problems and just pray that our children will escape the post-code lottery of the failing schools and secure a job which enables them to live in a 'respectable' area, pay the bills and, hopefully these days, make provision to live comfortably in retirement.

But problems don't go away by ignoring them. There have been many warnings of troubles ahead including an Audit Commission report which highlighted the fact that young people with five good GCSEs were failing to get a job or stay on in education and that in some parts of the country, one in four "forgotten" teenagers are living on benefits so 10% of teenagers – more than 85,000 across the country – were at risk of becoming an underclass, cut off from mainstream society and drifting into crime as they spend long stretches without a job, education or training.

That report was published over a year ago. It has taken days of rioting and looting for the Prime Minister to act on what he promised to do when he took over as party leader, that is, "to mend our broken society". He must now fulfil thatpledge putting an end to the moral decay which blights our society. He keeps reminding us that "we all in this together" but the reins of power are in his hands, not ours.

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One Born Every Minute

Looking at this evening’s television schedules I see that Channel 4 is offering One Born Every Minute in which “a man struggles with the knowledge that his partner is pregnant with someone else’s child”. I don’t know why anyone would want to advertise that let alone enter themselves in the minor celebrity stakes but that’s life these days.

I have to confess that I haven?T watched any of these programmes but I know a midwife who has, driven as she was by professional curiosity. One glance was enough, appalled by the sight of a woman in the agonies of her labour being laughed at by the husband/partner and their teenage son. How entertaining.

Nowadays of course even the news is classified as entertainment. As Gorgeous (to some) George says when he has finished conducting his Six O’clock News slot, “Stay with us for all the day’s entertainment on the BBC’s News Channel”! Where will it end? I see that the Church of England is moving increasingly with the times telling people that they are “welcome to marry in the Church of England whatever your beliefs, whether or not you are christened and regardless of whether you go to church or not”: http://www.yourchurchwedding.org/youre-welcome/you-can-marry-in-a-church.aspx

That had me thinking that with a little more imagination the C of E could have pandered to people?S curiosity even further by providing facilities for the congregation to witness the consummation as well but of course that would usually have occurred much earlier in our more enlightened society.

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A Question of Balance

Once again I allowed myself to become irritated by watching Question Time on Thursday. It was like a repeat of the Carol Vorderman show in drag with that offensive little pip-squeak David Starkey ranting from a similar Tory election script. Whilst I welcome a variety of opinions (within reason) such tirades become wearisome especially when formed from a narrow historical perspective. Some will recall his 2009 dismissal of the Scottish, Welsh and Irish nations as ?Feeble?. People in glass houses?.

Much was made by most of the panel, and the Chairman of course, of the links between the Labour party and its trade union sponsor Unite as a result of its dispute with British Airways. That was fair game but what are we to make of the report that the Tories have forced the BBC to drop their intensive investigation into the affairs of Lord Ashcroft in the run up to the general election? Can the implication be that they have something to hide? So much for transparency and balance.

Of course funding isn’t a problem for the really high earners in our society. A joke was made on Sport Relief last night that if every footballer donated a week’s wages we could buy Africa. Not being a fan of round ball games I may be biased but I find the astronomically high wages of footballers offensive especially given the bad example many of them set with their aggressive behaviour and disgusting habit of spitting all over the pitch which is then echoed by yobs spitting on the street and spreading diseases. “Spitting spreads germs” is a sign we ancients recall seeing on public transport.

Just as, if not more, offensive is the reported £60m bonanza for the president of Barclays. From the Telegraph: “The package is based on a £384,000 salary, but through a combination of perks including share bonuses, Mr Diamond could earn more than 150 times that amount”. Ignoring the perks, can anyone deservedly earn a salary sixteen times that of the average wage even if he does want to build the biggest investment bank in the world - especially if it is on the back of the tax payer as Vince Cable aptly put it?

David Cameron?S plan to impose a tax on banks to repay the billions used to bail out financial institutions is most welcome as is Alistair Darling?S expected Government support for a global bank tax. Whoever wins the next election and by whatever means, someone needs to do something about these greedy bankers.

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Sorry!

I?M sorry but yesterday?S excuses for failing to spot family abuse which had been allowed to continue under the noses of more than 100 officials for a quarter of a century sounded too hollow for me. What hope can there be for victims when they put their lives on the line to report abuse only to be ignored by the very people who are supposed to protect them?

This sorry state is symptomatic of a society which is obsessed with targets and box ticking. The easy option often gains rewards leaving weightier matters ignored with figures fiddled where necessary to obtain the required shine.

When things go drastically wrong there is the customary hand wringing statement of apology with the promise to learn lessons. They seldom do if recent experiences are anything to go on.

Postscript

With the ink still wet on the above post we read of yet another tragedy in the death of a long suffering disabled person whom it appears the police were unable to protect despite terbaru surveillance techniques. We defeated Hitler, we hope to defeat terrorism yet we appear unable to defeat the affliction that most are more likely to encounter. Something wrong somewhere?

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"Alice in Wonderland" - Wales Edition

Journeying into what has become for me one of the most fertile areas in the blogshere, I have heard of two more harebrained ideas in support of what is now the main aim of the Church in Wales, to be relevant to society.

The first was in a letter to clergy of the Archbishop's diocese urging them to keep their churches open during December and January to provide food and shelter for 'vetted' homeless people. This came in the wake of the Occupy Cardiff protesters rejection of his suggestion to camp aroundhis cathedral.  Lucky for him. That spared him and the protesters the indignity of Dean 'Napoleon' telling them to ****** off! It must have come as some surprise to the Archbishop to be told that many individuals as well as church congregations were already donating food and financially supporting experts in the field to do the job properly.

Experts rarely grab the headlines. They press on with their jobs while funding is squeezed. But fear not. Early next year at a cost of just £10 per person, the Church in Wales and the Institute of Rural Health will be holding a series of one-day training events for clergy and lay people with the aim of helping people with mental health issues. In a statement the Church in Wales announced, "We hope this course will raise people's awareness of mental health issues and provide a basic introduction in how to care for people in need."

As one highly qualified health professional put it to me: "Splendid - it takes health care professionals years (plus the same again in front line experience) to learn how to deal with patients with all sorts of conditions, and yet the CinW fly-by-night do gooders can learn it all for £10 and a quick PowerPoint presentation".

Well intentioned no doubt but a dangerous path while, perversely, the spiritual needs of those who keep the faith continue to be neglected. Are they irrelevant to society?

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Second Class or Second Rate?

I am becoming increasingly tired of pressure groups complaining about being 'second class' if they don't have exactly what they want, when they want it and as they want it.

This claim grew ever louder in the campaign for the ordination of women to the episcopate. As soon as there was a whiff of compromise to allow defeated Anglicans to worship as they wish, the feminist lobby denied that any promises had been given and cried foul: if women bishops were not to be absolute rulers they would be seen as second class bishops, an argument swallowed by ineffectual clergy and MPs who are charged with looking after the interests of us all.

It is no coincidence that the lesbian and gay movement have come up with the same strategy complaining that if they are not allowed to be 'married', their unions will be regarded as second class. But their campaign has gone further than that. They refer tointerfering 'religious' people condemning them as homophobic if they fail to support gay marriage, somewhat odd since every Tom, Dick and Sally felt it their right to decide on the ordination of women even if they had never crossed the threshold of a church. The Rev Dr Giles Fraser, a former Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, went further. On a BBC Newsnight programme he accused people of using opposition to gay marriage as a cover for their homophobia, ignoring the fact that the vastmajority of people are opposed to re-defining marriage whether they are 'religious' or not.

One wonders how the retiring Archbishop of Canterbury now feels after championing many of the causes that todaythreaten society. In 'Rowan's Rule' [page 95] his 'change of heart' over women priests is recorded as: 'I had to change after looking around at my own side, and seeing the company I was keeping.'  If only he had kept different company! He may have led us to unity but, with the benefit of hindsight, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that ++Rowan has simply been used by many of those he has supported. Clearly he had the best of intentions but failed to realize that his integrity is not necessarily shared by others, even at the highest levels. He was ignored when he sought an honourable compromise for those who do not support the ordination of women and he has seen his authority rejected on the controversial issue of theAnglican Covenant .

And so it goes on with one minority group or another constantly chipping away at society, trading on traditional British values of fair play until only minorities rule. The British Sunday is now barely recognisable from any other day of the week. Soon there will be no difference after the Sunday Trading Laws arerelaxed for the Olympic Games leaving only the Friday Muslim day of prayer as having any religious significance and appearing to be the British norm. It is the silent majority of British citizens who are being rendered second class by those airing their second rate views, unable to see further than the confines of their own narrow self interest to the detriment of the rest of us.

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Cameron's trumpet

Maria Miller leaves the Houses of Parliament after apologising to MPs. Photo Warren Allott/Telegraph

“The bedrock of our society” - Women and Equalities Minister, Maria Miller!!

"Marriage is the bedrock of our society and now irrespective of sexuality everyone in British society can make that commitment. It is a wonderful achievement and whilst this legislation may be about marriage, its impact is so much wider. Making marriage available to all couples demonstrates our society’s respect for all individuals regardless of their sexuality. It demonstrates the importance we attach to being able to live freely. It says so much about the society that we are and the society that we want to live in."

In my mind's eye I can still see her at the dispatch box, brazenly lecturing the Britain people on how we should order our lives when in reality she was pressing the case of an unrepresentative minority for political purposes, creating a law which required numerous subsequent amendments to avoid, for example, a gay King’s ‘husband’ from becoming Queen!

It is now clear why Mrs Miller was so positive about "being able to live freely" in "the society that we want to live in." She had experience of living freely at the expense of the tax-payer.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards found that the Culture Minister had over-claimed by ?45,000 for expenses towards mortgage interest payments and council tax but the Commons Standards Committee ruled that Mrs Miller should repay only ?5,800 and apologise to parliament for her "attitudedanquot;.

The Prime Minister regards that as reasonable for an 'honest mistake'. He said, "It was found she had made mistakes, she accepted that, repaid the money, she apologised unreservedly to the House of Commons, so I think we should leave it there." His comments will make 'the hard working people of this country' wonder why there is one law for the privileged and another for the rest of us. As one MP remarked, "If one of my constituents had claimed £6,000 of taxpayers' money for, say, housing benefit and then tried to claim that it was an oversight, that she hadn't realised that she wasn't entitled to this money, the book would be thrown at my constituent, rightly."

Having made a terse, inadequate 'apology' to the House, Mrs Miller keeps her job despite being regarded as amediocre minister who is "out of her depth".  Perhaps she feels secure as one of the few women in Team Cameron happy to act as his trumpet. A successful grammar school girl keen to make good she has been used by a privileged elite to undermine the institution of marriage in a squalid vote chasing exercise.

The Telegraph suggests that the 'apology' was used as an occasion to bury bad news but that is no surprise these days when everything seems designed to gain votes at any expense. That is evidenced by Dave looking to the Muslim vote by claiming that "halal meat will be protected as long as he Prime Minister". Perhaps that is why he prefers to shop at Waitrose with customers who are "more engaged than those who shop elsewhere". Somewhere he can rely on getting halal meats.

Nothing it seems is too difficult for us to swallow!

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Sociology replacing religion

The Bishop of Llandaff, June Osborne delivering her first presidential  address

 to members of the Llandaff Diocesan Conference.      Source: Church in Wales

"As someone whose first love was sociology I?M fascinated by how people draw the various maps of their world so one of my earliest requests to help me understand the diocesan landscape was that we should have a large map in the office showing the physical shape of the diocese. It arrived last week and already I stand in front of it with colleagues getting them to explain to me how things work."

The Rt Rev June Osborne, Bishop of Llandaff

The new bishop of Llandaff's first presidential address at a Llandaff diocesan conference makes informative reading. Strong on sociology but weak on theology and spirituality she should sit easily on a bench of bishops devoid of such talents. Formerly five of the bishops in Wales held Oxford Firsts in Theology.

Bishop Osborne said, "I will go on studying and using my map of the Llandaff Diocese but there?S another map going on which I?Ve begun to study and that is the map of the diocese which we each carry in our heads. We?Ve been doing some exploring of it today: and as I visit all the Deaneries in these next months I?Ll be listening carefully to what you think ought to be our priorities because they?Re writ large on your maps of how church should work."

This is far removed from the hype about the Dean of Salisbury beginning to transform Llandaff as soon as she crossed the Llys Esgob threshold. With parity high on her agenda her first move was to appoint a woman Chaplain as she began fishing for ideas on how to proceed in her new role.

Presumably the Archbishop of Wales had such imports in mind when he referred to the "huge range of talent, skill and faith" that the Church in Wales has among its people, both lay and ordained. 'Had' rather than has would have been more accurate.

Archbishop Davies haspromised  ‘more of the same’— but faster. In a pre- Primates’ 2017 conference video the Archbishop looked forward to learning from other provinces, ideas on new styles and new ways of delivering ministry, "something which we are seeking to do" in Wales he said. More of the same but faster can only mean accelerated decline.

Consultation is a bench favourite to be ignored at will so the new bishop outlined how she was inviting clergy and lay people to help her draw up a common map of the diocese by pinpointing where they saw themselves and the part they played in it.

Sadly many of the most able clergy now see themselves in England while lay people play no part after the Church in Wales left them.

The situation we find ourselves in is neatly summed up in the headline by Olivia Rudgard, religious affairs correspondent of the Telegraph:Number of new trainee priests hits ten-year high as 'celebrity vicars' make the Church look 'normal'.

Celebrity vicars like the Reverend Richard Coles and the Reverend Kate Bottley have "made the church more accessible" according to the Rt Revd Jan McFarlane, bishop of Repton. She also highlighted the BBC's 'Broken' and 'Rev' as good media portrayals of the clergy.

Perhaps she was not aware of the BBCseries about church in Wales ordinands 'Why we’re all represented in the Vicar Academy'.

The report shows a "ten-year high" in trainee clergy with more women than men starting training as priests for the first time in sixteen years. One of the ordinands, a journalist aged 33 and mother-of-three, says she has been encouraged by moves to make the priesthood more inclusive to women, such as part-time curacies and courses that fit around childcare.

Another sociology job option of relevance to society.

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Over-egged

Australian Labor MP Linda Burney jumps into the arms of Liberal MP Warren Enstch  after

parliament passed legislation to allow same-sex marriage in Australia. Michael Masters/Getty

This was the scene when Australia overwhelmingly voted to legalise same-sex marriage on Thursday. More pictures here.

There was considerable drama. An emotional Liberal MP fought back tears to propose to his long-term partner in the House of Representatives shortly after the same-sex marriage bill was introduced to the Lower House.

The vote was "greeted with applause from all sides of politics and the public gallery" (here). Spectators in the public gallery began singing “I Am Australian” (here) but such enthusiasm was disproportionate and inappropriate.

The reality has been exposed in Great Britain by the Coalition for Marriage. Quoting a study by academics at the University of York: "There are around 40,000 places of worship in Britain in which a traditional marriage may be solemnised. Only 182 of these are registered to conduct same-sex weddings. Half of those which responded to the researchers had never done so.

The study showed that "the total number of same-sex marriages that have been solemnized in the

places of worship comprising the sample is 83. Over half of the places of worship that have

solemnized a same-sex marriage have done so on only one occasion. 19 places of worship report that they have solemnized one same-sex marriage, eight report that they have solemnized two same-sex marriages, and four report that they have solemnized three same-sex marriages. Only five places of worship have solemnized four or more same-sex marriages, with the highest number of  same-sex marriages solemnized in any place of worship reported as 10".

The gay marriage plebiscite in Australia was estimated to cost Australia $525 million but a poll suggests that the millions of dollars spent on television advertising by the ?Yes? And ?No? Sides during the same-sex marriage campaign had little impact on voting intentions.

The population of Great Britain in 2016 was around 66 million compared with 24 million in Australia so in the unlikely event of exceptional demand the number of same sex marriages in Australia compared with the 118,401 marriages registered should be tiny.

The enthusiasm for gay marriage when compared with this reality is baffling. There are so many deserving causes which could benefit from money wasted on providing self-satisfaction for a few people with little or no regard for the sanctity of marriage as generally understood which is the union between one man and one woman for the procreation of children, without whom civilization would cease.

They talk of love and equality with no apparent understanding of either. Civil partnerships granted equality whether couples loved one another or not.

Same sex 'marriage' has over-egged a wrong which was put right at considerable cost with no benefit whatever to society.

It has been egged on by the media, often portraying the church as out of touch yet only a week after his enthronement in Brecon Cathedral the Archbishop of Wales John Davies is referred to in his local newspaper as the 'Archbishop of Brecon'. The Most Rev John Davies is also the diocesan bishop of Swansea and Brecon.

Twitter advises that the Archbishop of Wales will be discussing the role of the church in Welsh life on BBC Radio Wales Sunday Supplement this Sunday at 8am. Clearly he has much to do. On its own web site, the Church in Wales regularly refers to its clergy as, for example, Rev Smith instead of the Rev John Smith or the Rev Mr Smith.

Given the record of the bench of bishops in the Church in Wales, no doubt 'Right Rev John' as he was referred to in a BBC news article will be thrilled for the people of Australia in another giant leap for secularism.

Postscript [10.12.2017]

Readers who tuned in to listen to the Archbishop of Wales talking about the role of the church in Welsh life will have been disappointed if they expected any hint of the Great Commission. In his first presidential address to the Governing Body of the Church in Wales, bishop John Davies urged, "Put evangelism at heart of ministry".

There was little evidence of putting his words into practice. Instead we had the political face of a progressive church which, allegedly, "respects the consciences of people who feel differently" while providing their own answer to the Archbishop's question: "What would Jesus do?"

Ignoring what Jesus actually did when appointing His apostles and using 'love' as justification for departing from scripture and tradition, the Archbishop misleadingly pointed to the Governing Body as being representative of congregations when we all know from experience that it has become a tool to be used or ignored by the bench of bishops as have parish soundings and expensive diocesan consultations.

But the pi?Ce de r?Sistance came with the Archbishop's closing comments when he cited the Church of England's traditionalist bishop Philip North as an example of the church's concern for the poor.

Philip North is the bishop who was denounced by WATCH stooge, Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. He urged Philip North to either renounce his membership of the Society, a C of E organisation that rejects female priests, or decline his nomination as Bishop of Sheffield.

Perhaps we should not be surprised.  The new archbishop "signalled that the Province will continue to develop the vision begun by his predecessor, Dr Barry Morgan" but he hoped to "increase the tempo of change".

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The slide continues: Scottish Episcopal Church

The Most Rev Justin Welby announced sanctions against the Scottish Episcopal

 Church  at a news conference in Canterbury.  Source: BBC

"A major row is erupting in the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) with half the paid clergy in one region rebelling over the appointment of their new bishopdanquot; reports Christian Today. This follows the appointment of Canon Anne Dyer to be the first female bishop in the SEC. Canon Dyer is "strongly in favour" of gay marriage.

The protest follows the failure of the normal nomination process where church members within the  largely conservative Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney failed to name the required minimum of three candidates. The SEC bishops then took over the process and nominated former business/systems analyst Canon Dyer but without first consulting clergy or churchgoers in the diocese according to the report.

The Archbishop of Canterbury said last October that the SEC would be excluded from ecumenical and leadership roles in the Anglican Communion following the decision of the SEC to begin marrying same-sex couples.

The first same-sex Anglican church wedding in the UK took place in Edinburgh in September 2017 after the SEC voted in June to amend canon law and allow same-sex couples to be married in church.

Following the vote the Most Rev David Chillingworth, then Primus of the SEC, said: "A new chapter opens up and inclusion takes a particular form. This new canon affirms there are different understandings of marriage in our church. We affirm we are a church of diversity and difference bound together by our unity in Christ."

Bound in unity in Christ they may be but that is no excuse for deviancy. There is only one understanding of marriage. Marriage is between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others and for life.

Chillingworth retired at the end of July 2017. His successor the Rt Rev Mark Strange said in response to the sanctions imposed on the SEC: "We will continue to play our part in the Anglican Communion we helped to establish, and I will do all I can to rebuild relationships, but that will be done from the position our Church has now reached in accordance with its synodical processes and in the belief that love means love."

Love means love in many forms. That the English language uses one word to convey different meanings of love is too convenient for those pushing same sex marriage.

Another ploy is to suggest that people will become accustomed to same sex marriage in time as they have to re-marriage of divorced people', a false analogy because divorce is about the absence of love, complicated by issues of annulment, consummation and the effects on offspring.

Carrying on regardless, the Anglican church is striving to reflect rather than inform society. Empty pews are the result but the new bishop of London was not bothered in herresponse to the problem in 2015 when the former nurse and midwife was appointed bishop of Crediton - hence her ascendancy in today's Anglican church no doubt.

Her attitudeechoed that of Jan McFarlane, former Speech and Language Therapist, now Bishop of Repton. In response to the revelation that Norwich was the most godless city in England, the then Archdeacon of Norwich said that people were "doing their churchgoing differently" - staying away!

Postscript [08.01.2018]

Primus hits back after open letter criticises the appointment of Scotland?S first female bishop.

The Primus would be better employed examining his own conscience after seeking to justify same sex marriage using the simplistic jargon "love is lovedanquot;.

He now says. ?Whilst, it would not be appropriate to disclose the internal discussions which took place among the bishops, suffice it to say, that the bishops fully believe and trust that they have been led by the Holy Spirit in their election of Canon Dyer."

So the Primus stamps the SEC's gay marriage rencana with the approval of the Holy Spirit. The Church of England and the Church in Wales have been there before. If the Holy Spirit were to motivate anyone the signatories to the open letter would be more likely candidates having been informed by Holy Scripture rather than fashionable secular trends.

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A breath of fresh air

PIC FROM CATERS NEWS ? A lesbian couple have had a DIY baby after

using a syringe full of their gay best friends sperm to get pregnant.

At last, some sense from bishops. Not from the Church of England and certainly not from the completely secularised bishops of the Church in Wales but from bishops in France.

From a report in Crux:  The French bishops said "proposals to extend fertility treatments to lesbian couples and single women would harm society by removing fatherhood from the lives of children.

"In an eight-laman statement published Sept. 20, the bishops predicted that liberalization of the law also would lead to the social acceptance of surrogacy, the rise of eugenics and the notion that children were commodities to please adults.

"Could we collectively accept that man is considered a mere supplier of genetic materials and that human procreation is thus akin to manufacturing? It asked."

Male influence is on the wane. Primary education is dominated by female teachers. Your GP is increasingly likely to be female. Since the ordination of women the parish priest is likely to be female with an increasing number of female bishops, many of whom enthusiastically wave the rainbow flag.

The victims are fatherless children who are purposefully denied the wholeness of human creation.

Anglican bishops take note. Do not be conformed to this self-centred view of the world.

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A dysfunctional family

Rowan Williams preaches at Eucharist during a Sept. 24 clergy day in the Diocese of Los Angeles.                  Source: Diocese of Los Angeles/Janet Kawamoto

Addressing a gathering of clergy and laity in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said the Anglican communion is "fractured but still a family":

“I am saying ‘Anglican family’ rather than ‘Anglican Communion’ because we’re a very fractured communion but we’re still family – like so many families, quarreling till the cows come home. What gives us our family solidarity is, of course, that dependence on God’s call, God’s welcome. We are, at the moment, in the middle of a period of colossal uncertainty in the life of our Anglican family. There is uncertainty, division, a measure of suspicion still and a sense that our conventional and inherited ways of being Anglicans together across the world have come under almost unmanageable strain."

In fewer words, we are no longer a body of Christians with a common faith and discipline. Our Anglican family is dysfunctional. It is dominated by expressions of intolerance and vengefulness. As the Archdeacon of Llandaff bluntly put it, anyone who could not accept the new order would have to make their own arrangements.

Wikipedia describes Anglicanism as "a Western Christian tradition which has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation."

In recent times the Church of England, instead of leading by example, has followed the 'madness' of the Episcopal Church of the United States ((ECUSA) endeavouring to make the Church more relevant to society's perceived needs, liberalism has replaced tradition as described in my previous entry.

Abp Williams acknowledged that as Archbishop of Canterbury he had to make 'uncomfortable adjustments at both ends of the spectrum, liberal and conservative, north and south' to keep everyone at the table but he believes a duduk perkara-solving-by-committee approach no longer effectively addresses current challenges.

Too late anyway. The damage has been done. Self governing Provinces like the Church in Wales have voted for disunity. Family members who, in common with the vast majority of Christians, strive to remain loyal to the faith of the Anglican Church as received have been marginalised or excluded, divorced from the Church they lovingly cared for before it was ripped from them.

The bride of Christ has been torn apart by those who would stand in the person of the Bridegroom. Rowan is right when he compares Western Anglicans to families, quarreling till the cows come home. But the quarreling is now amongst the liberal rump deciding how far the revisionists can go.

There are parallels with society. The nuclear conjugal family traditionally comprised a family class consisting of a (female) mother, a (male) father and their children. As a consequence of formalising same sex relationships and the acceptance of genders differing from the biological sexes of male and femaleprimary school children are to be taught that some children have two mothers or two fathers.

This has gone so far as to compel a transgender man who gave birth with the help of fertility treatment to attempt to register himself as the child's father. Although he lost his court battle the ruling was attacked by campaigners and lawyers including the judge as a blow to the rights of trans parents and their children with calls for legislative reform.

In another case a Christian doctor has been told that his belief in the Biblical view of what it is to be male and female is "incompatible with human dignity" .

An NHS A&E doctor for 26 years, he was forced out of his job working for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) after refusing to identify clients by their chosen gender instead of their biological sex as explained in this video:

One might have thought that the Church would stand for truth but Western Anglicanism has confounded the truth by supporting divergence. The family is fractured.

Not content with fracturing our own family, feminists are intent on fracturing the Roman Catholic Church to advance their political agenda.

The Llandaff Diocese of the Church in Wales is embarking on an 'ambitious Year of Pilgrimage' to reinvigorate its work and worship as part of the Church’s 2020 centenary celebrations. Traditionally the Cathedral Church of St David in Pembrokeshire has been a place of pilgrimage but it has been turned into a feminist enclave making it difficult for orthodox pilgrims to participate fully.

ThisWomensOrdinationConf tweet was 'liked' by St Davids Cathedral staff:

"They don't just want a seat at the table. They want to rearrange the seating, in sense, by reducing clerical privilege, by focusing on ordination as more a call to serve than a pathway to power". The Women's Ordination Conference describes itself as "A voice for women's equality in the Catholic Church".

Mutual flourishing in the Church goes out of the window after women take power. The Bridegroom and His bride become tools for revisionists to help overturn convention no matter who is hurt.

When mutual flourishing is allowed the results can be remarkable as illustrated by a tweet following a recent Confirmation service at Llandaff Cathedral presided over by the Bishop of Burnley, Philip North: "Standing room only in the Cathedral for a Diocesan Confirmation @LlandaffDio and the most candidates I think I have ever seen. What utter joy. Thank you @BishopJuno and @BpBurnley. God is good!"

Rowan Williams is reported to have said that as it is the Church in Wales has no future. The Church of England is not far behind.

Postscript [08.10.2019]

'Pick your own sex' plans are shelved: Equalities minister Liz Truss abandons drive to relax laws around changing gender.

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Do you want local churches to flourish?

Ven Cherry Vann, bishop elect of Monmouth               Source: Church in Wales

From a Diocese of Monmouth jobadvert appearing in the Church Times:

"Do you want local churches to flourish?

"Monmouth Ministry Area is looking for 2 Ministry Area Leaders to share Ministry Area Leadership for the whole area and each to be incumbent of a group of parishes within it. One incumbency has a more urban base.

"The whole area has18 churches (6 looked after by House for Duty priests) A team of 13 active retired priests and a Reader Focal Ministers in most churches."

There are some sad average Sunday attendance figures in the Monmouth Ministry Area Profile which no doubt account for the advert headline. Granted they serve many small rural communities but with ageing congregations it is difficult to see how these churches are to flourish.

The average Sunday attendance figures are:

The Monmouth Town Group: Mitchel Troy 18, Monmouth Priory Church 51,Overmonnow 46, Rockfield 8, Wonastow 6.

The Monmouth Rural Group: Cwmcarvan 3, Dingestow 9, Llanfihangel Ystern-Llewen 12, Llangattock-Vibon-Abel 12, Penyclawdd 10, Tregaer 8.

The Llanishen Group: Llanfihangel Tor-y-mynydd 15, Llanishen 5, Llansoy 7, Trelleck Grange 5.

The Llandogo and Tintern Group: Llandogo with Whitebrook 42, Tintern 7 (Estimated)

The problem extends beyond the Church in  Wales. TheMail Online reports that a typical Anglican congregation in England numbered just 27 worshippers last year. "Over a decade congregations fell by 15 per cent, church marriages by a third, and fewer than one in ten babies were baptised."

Churchgoing is becoming increasingly unpopular. Why?

Responding (@18.27) to a LBC questioner in my previous entry Justin Welby said he was "deeply, deeply sorry" that "the Church has historically been deeply intolerant, with society as a whole, but the Church has no excuse. Jesus said to someone caught, someone dragged up in front of Him, 'those without sin cast the first stone' and we shouldn't be throwing stones" as if to imply that Jesus condoned sin.

The Christian message would have been much clearer if Welby had quoted Jesus when asked by the woman caught in adultery: "Has no one condemned you?? ?No one, Lord,? She answered. ?Then neither do I condemn you,? Jesus declared. ?Now go and sin no more.?

Biblical teaching has become so selective that for many people sin has been abolished so there is no need for redemption.

Welby also said: "People have to realise the reality of people's lives. The reason he is a Christian is because God came into the middle of the complexity, he didn't simplify it, he embraced it. It's what we need to dodanquot;.

Hate the sin but love the sinner has become love the sinner so never mind the sin implying that Christ died on the Cross in vain.

Churches cannot be expected to flourish by surrendering the faith of Christ crucified to a 'do-as-you-please' society.

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A Female Diaconate!

Representatives of the Women's Ordination Conference stage a protest in front of St. Peter's Basilica

at the Vatican on Tuesday, June 8, 2010.   Source: Washington post Photo by Pier Paolo Cito

 "Amongst a lot of social change, we too continue to see the loss of Sunday churchgoing. And this can feel as if we?Re in terminal decline. Add to that the loss of connectedness many once had with the church ? Now more than half our neighbours happily describe themselves as having ?No religion?. And then add the lost trust in what the church stands for - ask anyone under 30 what they make of the Church and they?Ll pretty soon mention our unhealthy preoccupations with gender and sexuality. Those multiple losses feel really significant for those who love the Church and all it stands for."

The words of the bishop of Llandaff, June Osborne, delivered in herPresidential Address at the Llandaff Diocesan Conference 2019 following her observation that churches in the Gwent Valleys had suffered 'a 37% loss of membership within just the last few years'.

Despite similar evidence from other Anglican Provinces that have ordained women, the Roman Catholic Church appears oblivious to the dangers of creating a female diaconate. It is clear from experience in the Anglican Communion that ordaining women deacons provided them with a stepping-stone in a planned progression from women deacons to women bishops resulting in exclusion for many and indifference to their plight.

Once women deacons established a toehold in the Anglican Church, equality of opportunity, not theology, took hold. The rest is history. People who rarely if ever set foot in a church have become arbiters of what is or is not acceptable in Anglicanism as liberal leaning bishops strain to be evermore relevant to society.

In 2010 the USWashington Times reported the results of a Poll that showed 80% of Catholics were 'comfortable' with the idea of women priests but it is worth remembering that the US Episcopal Church started the Anglican rot which spread to England and Wales resulting in many faithful Anglicans finding themselves effectively unchurched.

Other Catholics claimed that the Catholic Church would never ordain women but within a decade of that poll Pope Francis appears open to reversing claims made by Pope John Paul II that the Church had no authority to ordain women (1994) and those who continued discussing women?S ordination were effectively excommunicating themselves (1998).

One Catholic bishop, Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, has claimed that the Amazon Synod was being used as a ?Tool? To change the Church and create ?A new kind of religiondanquot;, a situation familiar to orthodox Anglicans who find themselves excluded by newcomers.

Speaking after the conclusion of Rome’s Amazon Synod which approved a document calling for  further discussion on allowing women deacons, the former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, described a male-only priesthood as "codology dressed up as theology".

It is difficult to take such women seriously when their interests appear to be more about feminine power than spreading the Gospel. True they use the Gospel but for their own ends. They talk of love and inclusion but are content to see women and men who do not share their views excluded, leaving them with no church to attend and no pastoral care.

Continuing her presidential address at the 2019 Llandaff diocesan conference June Osborne said "So many want to tell me how church life enriches their existence and is precious to them."

Church life did that for many others before they were excluded but the breed of woman that seeks power in the Church couldn't care less who is hurt on their march to the top. Instead they complain of discrimination and misogyny if anyone dares to disagree with them as they look to society for support.

Osborne started her address by referring to the September Electoral College which chose a new Bishop of Monmouth. She described the decision as excellent saying, "I know Archdeacon Cherry Vann will be an outstanding bishop for our friends in Monmouth."

There have been rumours that Cherry Vann was not the choice of Monmouth diocese and that their candidate was rejected which suggests yet another stitch up by the Church in Wales establishment in pursuit of their liberal agenda.

In her first interview following her election the bishop-elect said: ?I am also aware that the church is struggling to be relevant in people?S lives. I want to work with people to find ways of communicating, what is essentially, a message of love and hope to people who find the institutional church difficult or inaccessible."

St Paul spoke of love in action. He also said: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God?S will is?His good, pleasing and perfect will."

The movement for ordaining women to the priesthood peddles a false concept of equality in defiance of the message received through scripture and tradition which have been followed by generations in a broad Church. All has changed.

After women were ordained deacons in the Anglican Church demands for priesting quickly followed employing claims of discrimination and misogyny if they were denied what they claimed was the next logical step. They claimed that it did not mean that women wanted to be bishops, until they were priests.

After women were admitted to the priesthood, it was the 'stained glass' ceiling and promises of mutual flourishing if women were allowed to become bishops. Anotherfalse promise.

Now that there are women bishops parity is demanded using the usual slogans of discrimination and inequality. Parity has already been achieved in the Church in Wales following the 'election' of Cherry Vann.

In her presidential address Osborne referred to the "lost trust in what the church stands for" adding: "ask anyone under 30 what they make of the Church and they?Ll pretty soon mention our unhealthy preoccupations with gender and sexuality".

That preoccupation has been manifested most prominently in female bishops. Presumably they haven't finished yet.

Rome beware.

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A million miles from Victor Sylvester!

Victor Sylvester and partner                         Photo Credit: Photo Agency/Fanpix

The BBC's much anticipated Strictly Come Dancing spectacular climaxed on Saturday night.

By public vote the winner was ex-Emmerdale soap opera star Kelvin Fletcher and his partner Oti Mabuse.

For those of us long enough in the tooth to remember Victor Sylvester and the BBC Television Dancing Club, Kelvin's samba was a million miles away from ballroom dancing of old but re-captured by Emma Barton with her partner Anton Du Beke in their Viennese Waltz.

This Twitter clip sums up the change.

Just like the church and society!

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